More than 200,000 people might be driving illegally in Colorado, and such drivers were involved in crashes that caused nearly one-fourth of all state traffic deaths last year, state auditors reported Monday.

Driving without a license or with a revoked license “is a significant problem in Colorado,” auditor Jonathan Trull told the state Legislative Audit Committee. “All the strategies we have don’t deter them.”

State legislators requested the audit after Francis Hernandez, an unlicensed driver unlawfully in the United States, was accused of speeding through traffic, hitting another vehicle and killing three people in Aurora, including a 3-year-old in an ice cream shop, in September 2008.

In 2008, the auditors reported, only seven states had a higher percentage of fatal crashes involving drivers who lacked valid licenses. Fourteen percent of all drivers involved in fatal Colorado traffic accidents were “problem drivers” like Hernandez — either unlicensed or driving with a revoked or suspended license.

Hernandez was both. Not only did he lack a valid license, the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles had also revoked his right to drive.

Statewide, 548 people died in traffic crashes last year. The auditors reported that drivers without valid licenses were involved in crashes that killed 130, or 24 percent of all deaths.

One reason: As many as three-fourths of drivers whose licenses are suspended or revoked keep driving. In Colorado, “we estimate that there are currently as many as 225,000 drivers with active restraints driving on the state’s roads,” Trull said.

Division of Motor Vehicles records show that since 1992, 2,620 drivers have been convicted of driving under restraint in Colorado at least five times.

Hernandez, who was 23 at the time of the Aurora crash, had been jailed eight times for prior traffic offenses and misdemeanors.

State Rep. Dianne Primavera, who is chairwoman of the legislative committee, said she wondered why Hernandez had never been charged with a felony as a habitual traffic offender — a crime that can carry an 18-month sentence.

“Was he ever imprisoned after eight of them and jail time?” she asked.

Peter Weir, executive director of the Department of Public Safety, replied that the felony charge can be invoked only after three major traffic violations, such as drunken driving, in seven years, followed by another arrest for another major violation.

The auditors did not prescribe a plan to keep problem drivers off the road. They did list a range of strategies used in other states, from impounding vehicles or license plates to putting special stickers on cars that have been driven by people without valid licenses.

They also mentioned “house arrest” by electronic monitoring as one means of controlling problem drivers without driving up jail costs.

The auditors did have some good news for the legislators. Overall, Colorado has succeeded in reducing traffic deaths in recent years. From 2000 to 2007, Colorado’s traffic fatality rate improved from 29th best in the nation to 13th.

David Olinger is an investigative journalist who has worked for newspapers in New Hampshire, Florida and Colorado since 1976. In 18 years in Colorado, he has covered a variety of subjects for The Denver Post.

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